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Distance Learning Plan

Pre-Kindergarten Week 1

WEEK ONE

This weekly overview will help you keep track of your child’s distance learning experience. As your child learns from home, the timing will be different than a typical school day. Once your child has completed an activity, have them mark the work as complete.

Daily: Journal Writing and Question of the Day

Subject Time Activity Complete

Day 1

Read Aloud First Reading Picture Walk Math Counting Literacy Making My Name Investigation Sink or Float Specials Choose an art, music, or gross motor activity

Day 2

Read Aloud Second Reading: PEER Math Pattern Literacy Writing Strokes Investigation Sink or Float Specials Choose an art, music, or gross motor activity

Day 3

Read Aloud Third Reading: PEER Math Building Sets Literacy Picture This Investigation Sink or Float Specials Choose an art, music, or gross motor activity

Day 4

Read Aloud Choose an extension activity Math Shapes Literacy Tap and Stack Investigation Sink or Float Specials Choose an art, music, or gross motor activity

Day 5

Read Aloud Final Reading Math Measuring Literacy Rhyming Puzzles Investigation Sink or Float Specials Choose an art, music, or gross motor activity

Additional websites: https://www.abcya.com/ https://www.starfall.com/h/

A Week of Distance Learning for your PreK Child:

DAILY ACTIVITIES Goal: Young children thrive in routine and predictability. While at school, children often engage with a Question of the Day and opportunities to write. We recommend that these activities continue while your child is at home to further support critical thinking, expressive language, vocabulary, problem solving, alphabet knowledge, and fine motor skills. Question of the Day: Please use the attached document to engage your child in a question-based conversation each day.

Journal Writing: Provide your child with some blank paper and writing tools and encourage them to write. As you engage in Journal Writing with your child, some ways you can encourage their efforts and help them to get the most of this experience are:

• Ask your child to “read” their picture to you. Encourage them to add more details to their drawing. You may even label parts of their drawing to help them make connections between pictures and words. For example, “You drew a boat! I am going to write the word boat right next to it.”

• As your child tells you about their work, record their ideas by modeling conventional writing. “Tell me the words to write on the bottom of the page.” Then read the sentence back to them running your finger under each word.

• As children begin to write letter like forms and letter strings, encourage them to practice identifying and writing letters found in their own name.

• Continue to have your child read you their work. When children are ready for inventive writing/spelling, support them in identifying the beginning and ending sounds of words. For example, “You want to write the word ball. What sound do you hear at the beginning? /b/ What letter represents the /b/ sound?” or “Oh, you wrote LK because you heard the /l/ sound at the beginning and the /k/ at the end of the word LIKE.”

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READ ALOUDS: WEEK ONE, TWO, THREE

Goal: Reading aloud with children has many significant benefits. In addition to building an understanding about how print works, sharing and talking about a book will build your child’s comprehension and vocabulary. These skills are identified as necessary skills and predictors for later reading success. We recommend that over the next couple of weeks you spend at least 15 minutes every day reading aloud to your child. Remember, it is ok to read just for fun!

FIRST READING: Go on a picture walk. Only look at and talk about the pictures. Ask your child to predict what might be happening.

SECOND READING and THIRD READING: Sharing the book multiple times provides the opportunity for you and your child to engage in conversations that support critical thinking, comprehension, and vocabulary development. When asking questions, use the PEER strategy to support and extend your child’s responses. The steps for PEER are:

P: Prompt your child with a question about the story. Prompting your child focuses attention, engages the child in the story, and helps the child understand the book.

Point to something in the picture, for example, a balloon. "What is that?"

E: Evaluate your child's response.

"That's right! That's a balloon."

E: Expand on what your child said.

"That's a big, red balloon! We saw one of those in the grocery store yesterday."

R: Repeat or revisit the prompt you started with, encouraging your child to use the new information you've provided.

"Can you say big, red balloon?" Each time the book is reread, the expanded vocabulary words are verbalized again

CROWD Prompts: An important way to engage your child in book sharing is by asking questions. Certain types of questions are better than others for engaging your child in extended conversations. These conversations should build vocabulary, enhance knowledge of print, build skills in identifying letters and sounds, and help your child make gains in language development, which later lead to stronger reading and writing skills.

CROWD is a word to help you remember to ask different types of questions. Each letter represents a particular type of question.

Completion prompts require that you ask your child questions about language used in the story. Ask your child to fill in a repeated word or rhyme. This helps you child learn how to listen. For example, “Jack and Jill went up the _________.”

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Recall prompts help your child tell what happened in a story. Ask your child what the characters are doing. This helps your child develop the ability to follow a storyline and to retell details. For example, you can say, “What happened when Jack and Jill went up the hill?”

Open-ended prompts give your child the chance to tell what is happening in a picture or story. Prompt your child by asking, “What is going on in this picture?”

Wh-prompts are usually what, where, when and why questions. You might say, “What is the name of this,” while pointing to an object on a page. You might also ask, “Where are Jack and Jill going?” and “Why are Jack and Jill walking up the hill?” the wh-questions teach your child new vocabulary words.

Distancing prompts ask your child to relate something in the story to her own life. Example of distancing prompts include, “Have you ever played in sand?”, “What did it look like?”, “What did it feel like?”, “Did you ever roll down a hill?”, and “What did it feel like?”

READ ALOUD EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:

• Draw pictures to highlight a favorite part or character in the story. • Ask your child to retell the story using the pictures as guidance. • Have your child critique the book. Did they like it? Why or why not?

If you do not have access to picture books, there are some videos of read alouds available on YouTube. Search for read alouds for young children. Be sure to stop the video often to talk about what is happening and ask questions using the PEER sequence shared above. Additional Websites to support book sharing: https://www.storylineonline.net/ https://www.dclibrary.org/godigital

INVESTIGATION WEEK ONE: Sink or Float

Goal: Exploring objects that sink and float will help your child build scientific concepts that are the building blocks for future learning. A few of the many skills that this investigation will expose your child to are:

• Making comparisons • Making predictions • Steps in scientific inquiry • Multiple math skills

During Week One

1. Fill a large container, sink, or tub with water. 2. Collect at least 10 items from your house and put in a paper bag. You should have 5 items that

will float and 5 items that will sink. 3. Have your child draw each object on the space provided on the Sink or Float Prediction Sheet. 4. Using the Sink or Float Prediction Sheet, ask your child to predict whether an item will sink or

float. Ask your child why they think it will sink or float. 5. After filling out the sheet, your child should put the item in the water to see if their prediction

was correct. Extension:

Make a small boat out of aluminum foil and float it on top of the water. Ask your child to predict how many pennies he or she can put in the boat before it sinks. Have your child try the activity several times to see if it always takes the same number of pennies. Now make a smaller boat and a larger one. Does the size change the number of pennies needed to sink the boat?

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Name

OBJECT What I Guess What I See